This blog's main topics are the political situation in Tunisia and all the activities surrounding the election of the Constituent Assembly that was held on October 23rd 2011. You will also find interviews and discussions that I conducted with politicians and bloggers from the Revolution. All this from a Canadian perspective in Tunis.

lundi 31 octobre 2011

Those that follow politics in Arab countries know that
Tunisia is a model when it comes to respect of women rights. The situation
isn’t always perfect, particularly in the southern regions, but things are
improving gradually. Among young people, attitudes are similar to those
encountered in most modern countries in Europe and America.

The results of the first free election in the country
and the way it unfolded are examples of this.

In fact, remember the historic decision taken by the
ISIE (Independent High Authority for the Elections) last April of imposing parity between men and women on electoral lists. Not only was this resolution implemented across the country but it
was accepted by all parties without any opposition.

This allowed for a respectable number of women to be
elected on October 23rd. In total, 22.6% of the seats in the
Assembly (49 out of 217) were won by women candidates.

For a first time election, these results are
noteworthy especially when we compare them with the most developed countries in
the world. The tables below present statistics on the percentage of women
elected in other nations. Note that according to the standings of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, Tunisia is in 51st place in terms of feminine
representation in parliament.

America vs
Tunisia (%)

Tunisia

22,6

Argentina

38,5

Quebec

(Canadian province)

29,6

Mexico

26,2

Canada

24,7

Peru

21,5

United-States

16,6

Brazil

8,6

We see that Tunisia has more women in its Assembly that
the United States Congress and isn’t also far behind Canada and the province of
Quebec.

Europe vs
Tunisia ( %)

Tunisia

22,6

Belgium

39,3

Spain

36,6

Germany

32,8

Portugal

26,5

United
Kingdom

22

Czech
Republic

22

France

20,7

Poland

20

Italy

19,7

Romania

11,4

It is worth noting that Tunisia has a higher
percentage than France and the United Kingdom.

Balkans vs
Tunisia (%)

Tunisia

22,6

Macedonia

30,9

Croatia

23,5

Serbia

21,6

Bulgaria

20,8

Greece

17,3

Albania

16,4

Except for Macedonia, Tunisia has as many or more
women in parliament than most Balkan countries.

Scandinavia
vs Tunisia ( %)

Tunisia

22,6

Sweden

45

Iceland

42,9

Finland

42,5

Norway

39,6

Denmark

38

Scandinavian nations unquestionably have the highest ratio
of elected women.

Other
countries vs Tunisia ( %)

Tunisia

22,6

South Africa

44,5

Australia

27,9

Indonesia

18

Israel

17,5

South Korea

14,7

Turkey

14,2

Japan

11,25

India

10,8

Lebanon

3,1

Tunisia is already ahead of Israel, Japan and Turkey –
a country that is regularly presented as a model in the Arab world.

Souad Abderrahim

N.B: Still on the subject of women in Tunisian
politics, the most recent rumour emanating from Tunisia-live.net is that the
Islamic party Ennahda would soon put forward their star candidate Souad Abderrahim, elected in Tunis II, for the position of President of the Assembly. Mrs Abderrahim, a 46 year old pharmacist and mother of two children, was very
active in student union movements in the 80’s. During the electoral campaign
she drew media attention with her strong personality and because she was a rare
Ennahda candidate not wearing the veil, a fact that the party often alluded to.

dimanche 30 octobre 2011

Without a doubt, the controversy of Tunisia’s first
election is the Al Aridha Chaabia party and its obscure leader Hechmi Hamdi.

Let’s quickly go over the facts. The day after the
election, Monday October 24th, initial results published by the ISIE
(Independent
supreme instance for the elections)revealed modest gains for this practically unknown party. At first, Aridha
Chaabia won seats in rural regions of Tunisia.

As the ISIE results continued coming in over the
following days, the party was winning seats in various areas across the
country. Aridha Chaabia finally wound up in third place with 28 seats, only two
less than the Congrès pour la République (CPR). Pretty impressive for a party
unknown to journalists before the election.

However, this seemed too good to be true. Questions
were being asked: how could an unknown party nearly finish in second place?

Accusations of electoral fraud were expressed by
various groups. Two days after the election, as the final results were still
being tabulated, ISIE president Kamel Jendoubi suggested that some Aridha
Chaabia lists might be invalidated,

While presenting the final results of the election on
Thursday evening, the ISIE confirmed suspicions by announcing that six lists
(nine seats) were disqualified.

In response to this announcement, Hechmi Hamdi stated
that he was withdrawing all his electoral lists from the Constituent Assembly
and that no legal action would be undertaken.

Worse yet, disqualified candidates have decided to
oppose ISIE’s conclusion in court which is in disagreement with their leader’s
pronouncement.

Finally, not to be outdone in this political soap
opera, Hechmi Hamdi retracted his announcement only a few hours after making it
and asked for forgiveness for his comments following the ISIE’s decision.

As stated by his candidates, M. Hamdi now maintains
that all 19 elected members of his party will participate in the Assembly and
that the others will be contesting ISIE’s conclusions in court.

Obviously the party leader not only has problems with
the ISIE but he also has to deal with a serious lack of discipline within his
troops. This drama will continue to unfold has the nine disqualified candidates
will shortly undertake legal measures. Expect that this isn’t the last
surprising turn of events for this party…

The election is now
complete – discussions in Tunisia are henceforth about the next government and
the recent electoral fraud. Except for a few isolated incidents,
the president of the ISIE, Kamel Jendoubi, declared that the vote was fair and
that the infractions by some of the parties did not stain the credibility of
the results.

At the moment, rumors
surrounding the start of the Assembly’s work are at the center of attention.
Since the first results were revealed, Ennadha has taken up most of the space
in the negotiations – not surprising, considering their performance at the
elections.

Ennadha disposes of
very large means since they are the only party that can form a majority, albeit
needing a coalition with another political group. For this reason, they have
already proposed a candidate for Prime Minister and have also speculated as to
who the next interim President might be.

The man Ennadha wishes
to propose as Prime Minister is Hamadi Jebali – currently the party’s secretary general and supporter since the early
eighties. He is an engineer from Sousse and was very active in presenting the
party’s ideas to the media during the electoral campaign.

Aware of their status
as a minority government and of Tunisian’s fears of a lone ruling party,
Ennadha is looking for an alliance with a progressive leader. The goal would be
to have that leader as interim president until the next legislative elections.
Rumors suggest that there are three candidates the religious party is
considering – CPR leader Moncef Marzouki, Ettakatol’s Mustapha Ben Jaafar and
Béji Caid Essebsi, current Prime Minister.

The choice of Marzouki
is the most likely of the three. Whatever his supporters and candidates of the
party have said, he never really rejected the idea of an alliance with Ennadha
during the campaign – unlike the rest of progressive leaders. The only problem
with his candidacy is that Mr. Marzouki wishes to keep the Assembly intact for
more than a year – an idea not too popular among the masses and the other
parties. CPR is the only major party that has not signed the agreement
mandating a fixed one-year life span for the Assembly.

Mustapha Ben Jaafar, the leader of Ettakatol.

Interim Prime Minister
Essebsi has said he is considering the offer. Local newspaper El Maghreb reported
that he is Enndha’s first choice.

The nomination of
Mustapha Ben Jaafar, popular politician among Tunisians, could be a very good
thing for the Islamic party since they wish to offer the country a “largeunited government”.
However, Jaafar’s party members have voiced their concerns over such a
nomination since Ettakatol leaders had said many times that they would not have
such an alliance.

One major aspect that
could really make a difference at the Assembly is the formation of a majority
government – one that would have the power to name the interim government and
to write the country’s first constitution. The next decisions that are made
could have a very long-term impact on Tunisia – surely this is a sign that the
election was a historic event…

vendredi 28 octobre 2011

The full results of
the Tunisian elections have been announced at 10:00 pm local time by the Independent
supreme instance for the elections (ISIE) at the Tunis press center.

ISIE president, Kamel
Jendoubi, revealed to the media that Ennadha obtained 41% of the vote (90 seats
on 217). As predicted, Tunisia’s next government will be a minority, so it is
safe to say coalitions and alliances will probably arise. Also noteworthy is
that 24% of elected officials are women – quite a large number for a first time
election and even more so for an Arab country.

CPR and Ettakatol have
finished far behind with 30 and 21 seats respectively, giving them second and
third positions. The PDP, after experiencing a terrible start in the diaspora,
made a surprise comeback and scored 17 seats to finish fifth. Their leader,
Ahmed Néjib Chebbi, has stated that they will remain in the opposition and
won’t accept any alliance with Ennadha.

The 40 remaining seats
were won by a variety of parties and independent candidates. The PDM and Afek Tounes, who had hoped to
obtain between 10 and 15, were disappointed to learn that they had only gotten
five and four. For a complete picture of the results, see here.

However, today’s big
news wasn’t the final results but rather when ISIE announced it had stripped 9
seats from Aridha Chaabia because of electoral fraud and the presence of ex-Ben
Ali government members on their lists. The announcement caused a media frenzy
and was met with applause at the press center. Their seats fell from 28 to 19,
placing them in fourth.

In response to ISIE’s
decision, Mohamed Hachmi Hamdi, leader of Aridha Chaabia, stated that he has
withdrawn all candidates from the electoral lists and that none of the elected
officials would serve in the Assembly. He added that he did not have the
intention of contesting the matter in court.

Tires were burned on the streets of Sidi Bouzid.

As soon as the news
was announced to the pubic, angry crowds gathered in Sidi Bouzid, home of Mr.
Hamdi and the place where his party obtained their best results, and began
rioting. Citizens burned down the mayor’s office and ransacked Ennadha’s
headquarters. On social media sites, video and pictures were posted depicting
violent clashed between protesters and police.

It was reported that
protesters had started their assault on Ennadha’s HQ earlier in the day because
of their secretary general’s announcement that there would be no coalition with
Aridha Chaabia.

The immense surprise
surrounding the results of this relatively unknown party is still the focus of
the media’s attention. Many suspect that Mr. Hamdi used to be an ally of Ben
Ali and that he used his TV station to boost his own party illegally during the
campaign.

jeudi 27 octobre 2011

These elections are
the first in the history of Tunisia, it is therefore quite normal that delays
and setbacks are often. In a way, ISIE’s decision to postpone the results and
assure a true count is a very noble act. In the Ben Arous riding, the seven
ballot boxes were entirely recounted because some of the staff had doubts about
the original count.

So, the results aren’t
in yet – if there are no more delays, they should be announced Thursday evening.

With that said, as of
Wednesday, 70% of ballots have been counted – 159 seats on 217. Islamic party Ennadha still leads with 65
elected officials and their victory is almost certain. It is also very likely
that they will be in a minority government since they would need 44 of a
possible 58 seats left for a majority.

Tied for second place
are Aridha Chabbia and CPR, each with 22 seats. Ettakatol is in fourth with 13.

The main question that
remains to be answered is this : which parties will form a majority coalition
at the Assembly? The time for rumors is behind us now – CPR’s leader, Moncef Marzouki said today that his party was willing to negotiate with Ennadha.

Moncef Marzouki, leader of the CPR.

He also insisted on
the fact that CPR would make no compromises regarding individual liberties and
women’s rights. If he felt that these were being impeded, he would immediately
end the coalition. What is strange though is that one of the party’s treasurers
rejected the idea of a center left alliance – something that had been said many
times before the election.

This potential
coalition between Ennadha and CPR risks quickly running into a serious
roadblock since both parties have repeated their desires for their own sort of
legislative system. Ennadha still wants a one house parliamentary system (for
the reasons that I have explained in this article)
and CPR wants a semi-presidential one.

In other news,
Ennadha’s leader, Rached Gannouchi stated that he would propose the secretary
general of his party, Hamadi Jelali as Prime Minister, because “that job should
belong to the party that finished first” he said.

Finally, protests
occurred yesterday against the Islamic party around the Tunis convention
center. Some 200 protesters brandished signs and spoke out against what they
believed were unfair electoral practices as well as Ennadha’s religious agenda.
An important police force watched over the proceedings.

Qui êtes-vous ?

I am currently completing a bachelor’s degree in law as well as an MBA at the University of Sherbrooke, situated in Quebec, Canada. Even though I have no journalism background and no real experience in international affairs, I wish to bring to you, via this blog, as much information as I can about Tunisia and the first free election that was held October 23rd 2011. I also shared interviews and meetings that I had with various political figures and bloggers from the Revolution. The January Revolution in Tunisia that sparked the much larger Arab revolt was started by local bloggers who were not afraid to state what was really going on in their country. The situation was different in October 2011; much calmer than it was a couple of months before. The blog that I wrote is inspired by these bloggers and their contribution to the uprising in Tunisia. I wish to thank Marcus McCormick, Carole Gagné, Marco Ferraro and Bernard Bujold. Without them, the blog would not have been possible.